I am 29 and have a severely fractured tailbone. They think I broke it having my son in January, 2010 but didn't notice it until I fell in the end of October, 2010. That's when the REAL pain began...

I have a good PCP who is a wonderful man but I am just so frustrated every single day. He's sent me to a neurologist who gave me pain meds and said I'd probably have to have the whole tailbone removed but didn't know of any doctors that did the surgery anymore. She sent me for an injection into the sacrococcygeal joint, and the doctor doing the injection yelled out "WHOA!" when the Xray image of my tailbone came onto the screen that was guiding the injection. He said that he'd only seen one other tailbone like mine (he was in his 60s) and that there was no way the the injection would work (but, of course, he gave the injection anyway...). That didn't work.

I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon who called me personally after he saw my films to say the break was too severe and he didn't treat cases like mine. I saw another orthopedic surgeon who told me that there was nothing he could do except prescribe narcotics and maybe it would get better in 10 years (10 YEARS WITH PAIN LIKE THIS????!!!!!!). I see a new orthopedic surgeon next week.

I see a chiropractor and take lots of fish oils. I started glucosamine chondroitin today and got a prescription for yoga which I start tomorrow. I take OxyContin 40 mg twice a day and oxycodone every 4 hours. The OxyContin is so expensive and the insurance company told me in order to save money I should switch to morphine sulfate ER. I can not BELIEVE that the insurance company PHONE OPERATOR is now telling me what drugs to take! I have always trusted the medical industry until now, when something has gone wrong with me. I am a trainer and nutritionist and I believe in mind-body healing. Sorry that I have posted all this information, but I am new here and wanted to give a background.

So that's my big question - will the morphine sulfate ER work as well as the OxyContin? What about being tired? I have a little boy and I can't be out of it all the time. Is there anything else that works JUST AS WELL as OxyContin and is cheaper? I'm so sick of altering my life around this damn pain. Please HELP if you have any input. Also, I am in the Pittsburgh area. Thank you.

I was on Oxy for several years and then when Purdue switched to their new "safer" version last year it didn't work for me anymore. So I asked my doc to switch me to a new med, we discussed options and decided on MSContin (Morphine Sulphate). It works better than the oxy, with less side effects. The only thing is I had to take a higher dose of Morphine to equal the dose of Oxy, so you may have to mess with that a bit. Hopefully you'll do fine and the switch will be successful...I know several others on these boards who've made the exact same switch very successfully.

Thank you for your reply. I did know the dose would change from taking 2 40mg OxyContin (80mg/day) to 2 60mg morphine sulfate ER (120 mg/day) because morphine is not as strong as Oxy. How about feeling tired? Do you notice that at all?

Thank you so much for your time! I also think that opiates give me some energy; probably just because when the pain is lifted I feel free to live my life! Your experience leaves me more hopeful than I was a few hours ago. I'm really glad I finally asked someone rather than relying on everyone else's posts. I really hope some more people tell me their personal experiences.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had X-rays taken back in October after my fall. I ignored the pain from the fall for about 10 days (thinking it just hurt because I fell and would heal) until I had a BM that was basically just dark, red blood. The last orthopedic surgeon I saw (the one who said it might get better in 10 years or so...) ordered two MRIs, lumbar and sacrum/coccyx. The lumbar MRI showed desiccation and height loss at L3-4 and L4-5, as well as multiple ovarian cysts (I have PCOS and my husband and I have struggled with infertility, so that was no big surprise). The sacrum/coccyx MRI showed "severe anterior angulation of the coccyx" (Duh...). Just wanted to give a complete picture of where I am. Thanks again.

Thanks to those selfish people that abuse oxycodone, after 10 yhears of using 30mg roxycodone for breakthrough pain, my pain management doctor says he will no longer rx oxy. Instead, I am on 30mg of morphine. The latter is absorbed less than oxy in your bloodstream so the result is less pain coverage and more pain.

i am currently rx'd morphine also, er and ir- i think once the doctor gets the dose of your long acting med at an effective dose, the bt choice shoulnt matter too much-i take the ER 3 x a day and the ir about 3 x a day and so far i am getting decent pain relief. but that d oesnt mean everyone else will get the same results-there is no cookie cutter way to treat intractable pain-its pretty much a guessing game till the dr and you find what works best for you.

I take Morphine SUL 30MGs 4 times a day I have a failed back surgery and now more failing disks. I have pain but not as bad as it could be. I also take other meds to help with nerve pain but that is another story.

I can believe when you say the operator is telling you to used cheaper drugs.
It looks like this is what we are in for.